Council bids farewell to off-campus secretary

Within the small agenda for The Oxford City Council on Tuesday, one topic was a proclamation given to the Miami University Associated Student Government Secretary for Off-Campus Affairs, Matt Ciccone.

Already a recipient of the Miami President’s Distinguished Service Award, Ciccone was honored by the city for his work in 2010 for educating the student body on the census and a city ballot regarding the support of fire and emergency medical services, according to the proclamation.

According to council, Ciccone will be sorely missed.

“Matt has done a great job at that position and he has been at every council meeting,” Oxford Mayor Richard Keebler said. “Over the years there have been a number of great students at that position but Matt was extremely attentive.”

City Manager Doug Elliott said working with Ciccone had been a privilege.

“It’s been a pleasure to work with Matt,” he said. “He got the word out on the census and for the fire and EMS while also being involved in a lot of projects. I’ve enjoyed working with him since I started three years ago.”

In other action, three ordinances passed the second of two readings to be enacted into policy.

The ordinances concerned the franchise extension of Glenwood Energy of Oxford for 25 years and the regulation of the rates charged to the city.

The 16 percent increase will carry into policy for city residents, which will give a 5 percent increase on utility bills starting on June 1, according to Keebler. Keebler said this is the fairest rate and structure possible. The ordinance passed 6 to 0.

Council also passed the ordinance regarding pay band violations brought up during a state audit.

In order to meet the state’s regulations, the city was forced to increase the maximum pay bands by 9 percent.

While the 9 percent increase solves the issue for the state, it raised red flags to council. This in turn is forcing council to adopt the ordinance but it also caused council to schedule a work session in the future to go over the possibility of lowering the maximum from the 9 percent to something more manageable.

Although the original proposal called for the raising of the maximum as well as the minimum pay bands, council decided that in light of current fiscal strains the minimum pay band would remain at the current rate.